Commissioner Brushing Off Criticism of Police by Board

In his latest slap at the independent Civilian Complaint Review Board, Police Commissioner William J. Bratton said yesterday that he would not even look at an agency report that criticized two detectives in the fatal shooting of two robbery suspects until Federal prosecutors finished investigating the case.

Mr. Bratton criticized the board's actions in the case, saying the agency ignored a request from the United States Attorney's office to stop its investigation until Federal investigators completed their own inquiry into the case. The board has sent a report to Mr. Bratton concluding that the detectives used excessive force.

"I'll take note of the C.C.R.B. report after we finish the investigation with the U.S. Attorney's Office," Mr. Bratton said. "Our intention is to go where the truth takes us in this matter."

Two weeks ago, Federal investigators began looking into whether the detectives, Patrick J. Brosnan and James Crowe, violated the civil rights of the two young suspects when they shot them 22 times, all in the back, during a reported robbery in the Bronx.

Mr. Bratton was also critical of the review board's investigative techniques. He dismissed the board's conclusion that some of the bullets used by the detectives were Teflon-coated -- that is, armor-piercing rounds that are illegal.

"Unfortunately, the C.C.R.B. does not understand that many of our 9-millimeter bullets are coated to prevent lead dissemination," Mr. Bratton said. "So, the use of the word Teflon is a result of their inexperience in ballistics."

But Hector W. Soto, executive director of the review board, defended the agency's investigation and said that by the time Federal investigators began their inquiry, his agency had already completed its own investigation. He also noted that he cooperated fully with the Bronx District Attorney's office when it was looking into the case.

A Bronx grand jury voted in March not to bring any charges against the officers.

"I expected from the very beginning the C.C.R.B., as an outside agency, was going to have its growing pains, specifically with the Police Department," Mr. Soto said. "The C.C.R.B. has to be an independent agency that is not controlled by the Police Department. That's what the people wanted and that's what the City Council created."

The 13-member all-civilian review board was created in July 1993.

The incident at the center of the latest clash over the review board occurred on Jan. 12 when Anthony Rosario, 18, Hilton Vega, 21, and Freddy Bonilla, 18, went to an apartment at 1740 Grand Avenue in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx.

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Relatives of the three later said they had gone to collect a debt from the apartment's residents, Jorge and Hermelinda Rodriguez. But the Rodriguezes had told the police that the men had robbed them the previous night and threatened that they would be back the next night. The two detectives went to the apartment and waited inside.

When the three men entered into the apartment about 11 P.M., the detectives fired 28 shots, killing Mr. Rosario and Mr. Vega. Mr. Bonilla was shot once in the left leg.

Mr. Bratton's comments yesterday highlighted the tensions that have been simmering between the review board and the Police Commissioner, who has time and again criticized the review agency, calling some of its investigations shoddy. Mr. Bratton has also criticized the board's monthly reports, which tally complaints of police brutality, as inadequate.

After the review board issued its annual report last January that showed a 37 percent increase in allegations of police brutality, Mr. Bratton disputed the numbers and ordered an internal re-evaluation of the agency's figures.

Civilian review boards and police officials are locking horns across the country, said Norman Siegel, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "The Police Department does not like somebody looking over its shoulder," Mr. Siegel said. "But that's what the law of the city charter provides."

Earlier this week, the board concluded that Detectives Brosnan and Crowe used excessive force and that forensic and ballistic evidence showed that the detectives faced little danger when they opened fire.

Brian O'Dwyer, the lawyer representing Mr. Rosario's family and Mr. Bonilla in a civil case, criticized Mr. Bratton's handling of the board's report.

"This is New York, a city with a tradition of protecting people's civil rights," Mr. O'Dwyer said. "This isn't Mississippi. We should not need the Federal Government to tell us that public officials have violated people's civil rights."

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A version of this article appears in print on July 29, 1995, on Page 1001023 of the National edition with the headline: Commissioner Brushing Off Criticism of Police by Board. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe